Comic-Con: ParaNorman Panel Live Blog

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Travis Knight, Chris Butler and Sam Fell are hitting Hall H at the San Diego Comic-Con to discuss making their new stop-motion-animated comedy thriller, ParaNorman, made in 3D. Never-before-seen footage will be shown from the Laika movie that Focus Features is opening nationwide on August 17.

In ParaNorman, a small town comes under siege by zombies. Who can it call? Only misunderstood local boy Norman (Smit-McPhee), who is able to speak with the dead. In addition to the zombies, he’ll have to take on ghosts, witches and, worst, of all, grown-ups, to save his town from a centuries-old curse. But this young ghoul whisperer may find his paranormal activities pushed to their otherworldly limits.

You can read the archived version of our live blog below:

10:53Silas Lesnick: PARANORMAN has started with a look at the previously-released second trailer!

10:53Silas Lesnick: They’re reminding the audience that today is Friday the 13th.

10:54Silas Lesnick: Producer and Laika CEO Travis Knight has come onstage along with both directors, Sam Fell and Peter Butler.

10:55Silas Lesnick: Voice talents Kodi Smit-Mcphee, Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Platz have joined as well

10:55Silas Lesnick: Butler is saying that he’s been working on the film on and off for six years.

10:56Silas Lesnick: He says that the central concept is “John Carpenter meets John Hughes”

10:57Silas Lesnick: They’re also comparing it a mixture of Amblin and George Romero films

10:57Silas Lesnick: “Ray Harryhausen on bath salts”

10:58Silas Lesnick: Both directors are English, but they’re saying that growing up in the 1980’s in the UK still met being heavily influenced by American media.

10:59Silas Lesnick: Kodi is saying that he was excited to do an American audience, but he couldn’t voice the character again because his voice has changed so much with age.

11:00Silas Lesnick: Anna is talking about how freeing it is to voice a role rather than worry about how you look while performing.

11:01Silas Lesnick: The actors were filmed so that the animators could use them as refrence

11:01Silas Lesnick: Christopher is saying that his character is like if he was super-fat

11:02Silas Lesnick: They’re about to show some footage. Hold on….

11:05Silas Lesnick: It’s a behind-the-scenes featurette showing some really great stop motion photograph of the sets as they’re being prepared.